The institution of the “Twin Kingships”(Mycenaean Greece) were yet another analogous myth that denotes the polarising element in spacio-temporal nature yet mirrors or reflects the psychological dimension in mankind. Twins were considered a magical element and some noble twins were accorded kingly status for a period of four years each in an alternating succession. According to this calendrical tradition the “new sun” or child is born at the winter solstice, is sacrificially torn to pieces at the Vernal Equinox, only to be resurrected 3 days later. The maturing Sun (Arthur) then reaches its climactic impact at the Summer Solstice, and the days begin to visibly shorten, the leaves decay at the onset of the autumnal equinox (Guinevere’s betrayal). The hero then engages in a final bloody battle where he is ruthlessly ‘cut down’ by his arch-protagonist (Mordred). This idea of mutually reconciled opposites as “twins” (ruling the periods of daylight and night) is also encapsulated in the Epic of Gilgamesh and much later still within the Arthurian Legend. Since only strong male animals are fit for ritual slaughter!
Hence the phrase: “The King is dead, Long Live the King!”
In another sense this is synonymous with “12 Noble Knights” and the presiding anointed King or “Jesus Christ” and his 12 disciples, who, as a dying and resurrected god is following the traditions of Tammuz, Attis and Adonis. In effect this parallels the use of a solar/lunar calendar consisting of 12-13 months, (See E.K. Chambers, “The Medieval Stage” and “Themis”, the evolution of Greek Drama). But it is also mentioned in connection with “The Origin of Attic Comedy” by F. Cornford. In the Mithraic tradition for example it is depicted as a frieze where the ‘son of light’ Mithras slays the Bull (Taurus) suggesting a shift in emphasis (equinoctial precession) from Aries, the first sign of the zodiac associated with the Spring equinox. The Etruscan calendar operated on a numerical pattern linked to the numbers 2, 5 and 11. The calendar system was inextricably linked to an alphabet composed of 22 letters and to their religious bull-slaying cults. The key to these numbers and their importance in the Etruscan calendar system lies basically in a cycle of 11 years, composed of 6 + 5, multiplied 3 times to give a subtotal of 33 years. Minor adjustments were made to the calendar every 5, 11 and 110 years, after which the whole of the system was realigned to the natural cycles of Sun and Moon, and the precise dating of the Spring Equinox. The original calendar, like the early Mesopotamian had ten months of 30 days duration linked to the official calendar of 16 months of alternating 22 and 23 days. This was later changed to 12 months of alternating periods of 27 and 28 days. Their time cycles were calculated on the basis of the 1st New Moon to Full Moon as well as midday to midnight, thereby giving them a far more accurate system of timekeeping than the Egyptian, Greek and Mesopotamian cultures. Augury and divination employed a geomantic system which arranged the cardinal directions, above and below the horizon into 4 quarters, the whole composed of 16 divisions. Each of these 16 segments was attributed to one of their major Gods or Goddesses and to a letter of the original 16 letter consonantal Etruscan alphabet (the 5 vowels were added later, plus one borrowed from the Greek). At this time, around 500 BC the Etruscan alphabet, like the Judaic contained 22 letters and their script borrowed much from Phoenician and Greek alphabets. The only letter which is solely Etruscan in origin is the last letter (f), this resembles a figure of eight symbol, laid on its side and is used to signify “F”. Encoding a myth or legend within a calendar system that was synonymous with their alphabet ensured that as long as they spoke Etruscan they would never lose their traditional ways and agricultural customs. Moreover, they could still make predictions that would elicit the support of the community and reassure them of a stable and secure future.
The ancient Greeks like the Phoenicians knew the constellation Ursa Major as the “Golden Bough”, a branch with ‘golden apples’ on it, this branch was guarded by a huge cosmic serpent (constellation Draco). In 2,800 BC for example the star Thuban in the body of the Dragon in the constellation Draco – was our pole star, whereas currently Polaris is our pole star being located just 0.8 degrees from the celestial pole or centre. Mythologies relating to King Arthur (son of Urther Pendragon) and the Grail Legends may indeed refer to a time when Arcturus appeared to exert an influence due to its precise location in the heavens. The stars of Ursa Major are good indicators or pointers to other fixed stars. From the handle the stars are sequentially Alkaid, Mizar, Alioth, Megrez, Phecda, Merak, and Dubhe. In actual fact there are 8 stars in the constellation, with Alcor being very close to Mizar resembling one star to the observer’s eye. For example, the line of Alioth and Megrez point towards the fixed star Betelgeuse, the alpha of Orion (the huntsman) located around 28 Gemini. As every experienced mariner knows, the line from Merak to Dubhe point towards Polaris, our current pole star in Ursa Minor, while Phecda and Dubhe point directly at the fixed star Capella in the constellation Auriga and further on to the constellation Taurus and another fixed star Aldebaran, while Dubhe and Alioth point to Arcturus, and finally Alioth and Phecda point to the helical star Sirius.
Whether medieval authors of the Grail Legend unconsciously drew upon Indo-Aryan sources or directly imitated them by reiterating their ritual and magical elements is uncertain and as yet unproved. The Sumerian and Babylonian texts which survive in cuneiform could not have been available to them so they would have had to rely purely on oral sources, perhaps of an eastern Gnostic/Persian wisdom. The nature of these feature “lamentations or wailings” by women with shaven hair for the Nature Deity to return and restore the fertility to the land. According to Stephen Langdon (“Tammuz & Ishtar”) the spring god descended into the underworld to recover the spirit of spring as in the case of the Greek Persephone, previously abducted by Hades and return her to Zeus for some 6 months after which she returns to the underworld for yet another 6 months. Langdon translates the Tammuz texts as follows:
“In Eanna, high and low, there is weeping,
Wailing for the house of the Lord they praise.
The wailing is for the plants; the first lament is they grow not.
The wailing is for the barley; the ears grow not.
For the habitations and flocks it is; they produce not.
The wailing is for the great river; it brings the flood no more.”
The dissemination of the Phoenician cult of Adonis originated from Byblos and Aphaka from where it spread to Cyprus, the island home of Aphrodite and thereon to the islands and mainland of Greece. The date of the festival of Adonis in Greece was celebrated at late springtime, possibly as late as June, whereas in Cyprus it was celebrated at the autumnal equinox, the beginning of the Syro-Macedonian calendar (23rd of September), the resurrection being the 1st of October. This involved not only the period of lamentation, but the casting of an effigy of the god onto the waters which was accompanied with baskets full of seedlings/plants. It is akin to the Arabic festival El-Bugat “the festival of the weeping women” which was celebrated well into the 10th century. It remains as an important festival date in Greece (Adonai) in Russia (Yarilo & Babayaga), in England around Whitsuntide (King & Queen of the May), and in Bohemia and Hanover in May. The public orgiastic feast of Attis and Kybele took place around the Spring equinox (March, 15th – 27th) and was popular among the secular population and the Gnostic and Syrian adherents who were familiar with the feast. Furthermore, the Persian cults of Mithras and the goddess Anâhita in Iran appear similar to those of Attis and Kybele in Rome at which a communal feast was served in sacred vessels. The Paschal Feast of the “Last Supper” attended by Christ’s 12 disciples and served with fish, bread and wine may therefore have been an attempt by Jesus to restore this festival that the Jewish priests had themselves acculturated as their own. Hence we have arrived to the significance of the “Fisher King” and the meaning clearly denotes or signifies the beginning of the astrological axis represented by the zodiac signs of Virgo and Pisces and why the term is found among theological works from the Christian era. Virgo as any astrologer will tell you is attributed to nursing, service, healing, humility, asceticism and hermitages or retreats of scholarly vocation, ie: monastic retreats. Pisces (ichthus) on the other hand is attributed to prayer, faith, belief, churches and cathedrals, religion generally and the spiritual nature of an individual or any institution based on faith. All of these were characteristic of the Virgo/Piscean Age that has lasted some 2,000 years since the birth of Christ some astrologers would argue that began 01 A.D. That is why Christ told his disciples that “I will make you fishers of men” meaning of course that they would in turn preach the gospels and the wisdom contained in them to the world.
While the absence of the lord is the cause of infertility in the Grail legend Sir Gawain visits the Grail castle only to encounter a group of wailing or weeping women (Diû Crône). In the prose romance of “Launcelot” the hero Gawain sees 12 maidens come to the door beyond which the Grail is kept and then commence weeping although no explanation is given for their response other than when the quest is complete he will uncover the reason for their lamentations:
“Of the Grail and the maiden’s woe,
He who comes afterward shall know,
Why the damsel from the knight’s bier
Bears the Grail with manya tear,
He shall learn then the truth that none
Could ever earlier have won.”
Arthur’s Byzantine connections might come through the largely unexplored available evidence that he was actually of Gothic descent. There are so many alternative candidates currently proposed as being the real King Arthur that it is almost certain he did not exist at all. Or, that in reality he was more ‘unicorn’ than he was a lion in the British consciousness? The British and European historians and chroniclers simply turning a ‘blind eye’ to any evidence that robs them of their legendary and historic national hero. The Mabinogion tells us Arthur‘s brother on his mother’s side was a certain ‘Gormant, whose father was Ricci.’ This means that Igerne could have had children with ‘Ricci,’ one of whom could have been Recitach Strabo (d.481), the son of the pro-Byzantine chieftain of the Thracian Goths called Theodoric Strabo. This could at least explain why speaking in A.D. 538, Belisarius appears to presume that Britain is populated by Goths. Procipius reports; “And the barbarians said: that everything which we have said is true no one of you can be unaware. But in order that we may not seem to be contentious, we give up to you Sicily, great as it is and of such wealth, seeing that without it you cannot possess Libya in security.” And Belisarius replied: “And we on our side permit the Goths to have the whole of Britain, which is much larger than Sicily and was subject to the Romans in early times. For it is only fair to make an equal return to those who trust, do a good deed or perform a kindness.”
Furthermore, Recitach‘s father, Theodore Strabo, might be the same Theodoric named in several Cornish histories as a sub-king of Dumnonia, in which region lay the Tintagel of Arthurian topology;
“RIVIERE, near Hayle, now called Rovier, was the palace of Theodore, the king, to whom Cornwall appears to have been indebted for many of its saints. This Christian king, when the pagan people sought to destroy the trust of missionaries, gave the saints shelter in his palace, St. Breca, St. Iva, St. Burianna, and many others, that are said to have made Riviere their residence. It is not a little curious to end traditions existing, as it were, in a state of suspension between opinions. I have heard it said that there was a church at Rovier–that there was once a great palace there; and again, that Castle Cayle was one vast fortified place, and Rovier another”.
Comparisons with British Festivals & Fêtes
In an attempt to resolve the numerous alternative narrative revisions wrought in the Arthurian Sagas by numerous authors the anthropologist Jessie L. Weston (“From Ritual to Romance”) suggests that their provenance or origin might derive more from ancient pagan ritual dramas connected to Fertility Cults and Nature Deities as early as 3,000 B.C. She draws upon several analogies between the events in the Sagas and festival traditions, ritual dances and customs that have their origin among ancient Phoenician/Persian and Scandinavian sources of a “dying and resurrected god” such as Tammuz (Babylonian), Attis (Phrygian) or Adonis (Phoenician). Indeed she turns to the Hindu Rig-Veda, which composed of some 1,000 poems/hymns that parallel the themes, events or narratives contained in the Arthurian legend of the Grail. Initially, she begins by examining the theme of the Fisher King who in some versions is consumed by an undisclosed malady and his salvation or relief is determined by the hero’s ability when arriving at the Grail Castle to ask the right question of the Grail itself. In other versions it seems that the land is plagued by desolation, plague or waste while the King, although concerned for the future is hale and hearty. In other versions his quest pertains to an element of vengeance for a dead hero, whose still bleeding heart or decapitated head is displayed in the castle. Bearing in mind that Perceval’s failure to ask any question of the Grail results either in the ill-health of the King, the ruinous waste of the land (ie: loss of fertility) or that the ancestors are not avenged so that war breaks out. This set of circumstances is true for three of the knights Gawain, Perceval and Galahad. The general consensus being that the main object of the Grail Quest is the restoration to health and vigour of the King who is suffering from infirmity, ill-health or old age. The King’s physical condition can therefore be blamed for or linked to the drought/plague or desolation of the Land. In several sources the tales state that the land will be restored when the King’s malady is cured and he is restored to youthful vigour. In other cases the land is laid waste by quarrelling and war between two or more factions and not by the neglect of the hero to ask the right question nor was it connected to the well-being of the King. A similar set of circumstances are found in the verses of the Rig-Veda and more significantly the introduction of an inundation or what she refers to as the “Freeing of the Waters” which endows the land with fertility, she writes:
“Tradition relates that the seven great rivers of India had been imprisoned by the evil giant Vritra, or Ahi, whom Indra slew, thereby releasing the streams from their captivity. The Rig-Veda hymns abound in references to this feat; it will only be necessary to cite a few from among the numerous passages I have noted.”
“Thou hast set loose the seven rivers to flow. Thou Indra, hast slain Vritra by thy vigour, thou hast set free the rivers. Thou hast slain the slumbering Ahi for the release of the waters, and hast marked out the channels of the all-delighting rivers. Indra has released the imprisoned waters to flow upon the earth”.
According to one professor Oldenburg it is regarded by academics of social and cultural anthropology as the Akhyana theory (Suparna-akhyana texts) and what M. Sylvain Levi suggests was the earliest foundation of Indian drama since the recitation of the hymns relied heavily on a dramatic performance between two or more speakers or singers. There are moreover monologues that professor Leopold von Schroeder describes as early cultural drama accompanied by ritual to invoke the fertility of the land. A similar set of circumstances existed in Egypt where the fertility of the land relied heavily on the annual inundation of the Nile river, rich in black, fertile silt around the same time as the rising of the star Sirius. In the Rig-Veda the constellation of the Great Bear (Ursa Major) is mentioned. Another Indian text, the Mahabarata sheds some light on the background to the Grail story whereby the hero is a renunciate or hermit who, like the traditional Nagas, lived an ascetic and celibate life in the forest far away from the hectic suburbs of the neighbouring city complex. The King however is told that the rivers have been imprisoned because the son of a hermit Rishycagringa remains chaste and is oblivious to the temptations of women then the drought and infertility of the land will continue until the boy enjoys a normal sex-life by accepting marriage. According to the tale a seductive maiden, disguised as a hermit herself is sent to meet Rishycagringa in his forest retreat and gradually seduces him. The ‘maiden’ turns out to be the daughter of the King who gladly assents to their marriage and upon which the rivers begin to flow again and the fertility is restored to the land.
As anyone knows from the study and principles of occult magic this represents a ritual pertaining to sympathetic magic whereby the union of an innocent youth with a more mature beguiling female acts to invoke the freeing of the waters. It is also found within the precepts of European Alchemy and not unlike the ritual union of Sol and Luna. Aside from unveiling aspects of ancient Aryan religious practice the author Jessie L. Weston goes on to examine influences in Europe from around the same time since the Indo-Aryan migrations (circa 1,600 B.C.) brought with them customs, beliefs and traditions which we still live with today and hardly realise their origin let alone their meaning or significance (eg: the Bromley Horndance). In this regard it would be mindful of a recurring seasonal cycle of return composed of Birth, Death, and Resurrection such has been annually celebrated by Christians as Midwinter, Easter, and the Autumnal Equinox. At this time usually a sacrifice was made to appease the gods and might involve a surrogate (Greek: Eniautos Daimon) who might take the form of a bull, goat, snake or bird. This was not unlike the presiding ‘spirit of the year’ determined by the magician/astronomers based probably on the 12-year Jupiter cycle employed especially by Chinese astrologers but has its counterpart in early Greek and Minoan mythology and ceremonial ritual:
According to Gnostic tradition there were 4 levels of initiation.
- The Hylic: (Physical Body) Theseus – Service & Duty, Earth.
- The Psychic: (Personality or Ego) Odysseus or Jason – Baptism, Water.
- The Pneumatic: (Spiritual Plane) Perseus – Holy Vibration, Air.
- The Gnostic: (Mystical Plane) Hercules – Divine Light, Fire.
On a mythic or symbolic level the hero faces one of four possible sexual deaths or obstacles –
- Facing east he might be gored by a charging Boar.
- Facing west he might be swallowed by a huge Fish.
- Facing north he might be bitten by a Snake.
- Facing south he might be carried away by an Eagle.
I have already written about the numerous festivals celebrated in the British Isles outlining their origins in a paper entitled: “A Rural Calendar” which month by month explores the vestiges of Phoenician, Roman and Greek festivals and available on my website in the form of “Shakespeare’s Almanack”. In that and in “The Elizabethan Festival Cycle” I draw parallels with some of Shakespeare’s plays that strongly feature elements of British folklore and mythology. For example, in “Twelfth Night” (Epiphany), “A Winter’s Tale” (Winter Solstice), “Measure For Measure” (Autumnal Equinox), “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” (Summer Solstice) and “The Two Gentlemen of Verona” (Spring Equinox). Many more interesting correspondences can be found in medieval Mummer’s, Miracle and Mystery Plays, that feature certain characters who resemble a primitive theatre reminiscent of ancient Rome or Greece that also featured strongly in Renaissance Italy (“Commedia d’elle Arte”). In Shakespeare’s play “Love’s Labours Lost” the French King and several members of his court together with his friends Berowne, Dumain and Longaville have resolved to become ascetics, renouncing the world and devoting three years of their lives purely to study. However, Berowne is sceptical and bored with the idea until the King arranges for some light amusement in the form of a skit between Don Adriano and the clown Costard. Don Adriano de Armado complains to the King that Costard has been intimate with Jacquenetta, a wench thus breaking the conventions of an ascetic retreat. This narrative resonates deeply with the account of an ascetic lifestyle described in the Mahabarata and in the Grail legend. Although this play is a farce on The Earl of Southampton‘s inability to respond adequately to the allures of women which is the main theme of Shakespeare’s epic poem “Venus & Adonis”. The character of the dark-skinned Rosaline is probably modelled on his own “Dark Lady” from the Sonnets who Southampton was secretly involved with in a ménage a trois with William Shakespeare. In actual fact Shakespeare makes fun of the Earl of Southampton‘s reluctance to marry, and later events of his life also feature in “All’s Well That Ends Well”. This is a farce on The Earl of Southampton‘s inability to respond adequately to the allures of women which again also features in “Venus & Adonis”.
Chambers Book of Days, a compendium of annual and regional pagan and Christian festivities and customs, wrote in 1864:
“To investigate the origin of many of our Christmas customs, it becomes necessary to wander far back into the regions of past time…We have frequently, in the course of this work, had occasion to remark on the numerous traces still visible in popular customs of the old pagan rites and ceremonies. These, it is needless here to repeat, were extensively retained after the conversion of Britain to Christianity, partly because the Christian teachers found it impossible to wean their converts from their cherished superstitions and observances, and partly because they themselves, as a matter of expediency, engrafted the rites of the Christian religion onto their old heathen ceremonies, believing that thereby the cause of the Cross would be rendered more acceptable to the generality of the populace, and thus be more effectually promoted.”
We find several correspondences to Mummer’s plays during “Saturnalia”. Usually, a presenter, such as “Auld Nick” (aka: Father Xmas) would introduce the characters and announce their intent, for example the first warrior knight would appear boasting of his formidable strength, courage or accomplishments, then another (“The Turk”) would appear to take him on. A slashing sword combat would take place, and one victim would fall dead and soon after a Doctor would be called to revive him, and if this failed a minister with attendants (“Beelzebub”) would arrive to administer the last rites. Therefore within elements of the Mystery plays, Miracle plays and Morality plays we will find vestiges or correspondences to these earlier ritualistic masques or traditions that had taken place prior to the conversion of the British populace to Christianity. For example, among the Celtic peoples the time of Christmas was celebrated in honour of the dead with Odin, who was thought to ride his horse across the heavens leading the hunt. Today that task is performed by Santa Claus, alias Old Nick or Father Christmas with a team of reindeer and a bag of presents for children. However, the clergy were keen to sanitise and censor much of what they considered to be inappropriate pantheism or idolatry in any respect to the old pagan ways. Mummer’s plays were often considered a threat by the Church Fathers partly because of their satirical innuendos and symbolic or allegorical content, where for example they were critical of the lies and hypocrisy of the Orthodox Church. But these traditions remain in the dramatic yet secular celebration of several pantomimes such as “Jack & the Beanstalk”, “Cinderella”, “Snow White & the Seven Dwarves”, “Dick Whittington”, and “Aladdin” which featured a “principal boy”, usually played by a girl and the “principal girl”, played by a boy as it was in Shakespeare’s time. A good deal of the narrative and style of these popular dramas owe their existence to the influence of the Italian “Commedia d’ell Arte” which William Shakespeare helped to import from Europe. Favourite Shakespeare plays for performance at the Globe this time would have been “The Merry Wives of Windsor”, “A Comedy of Errors”, “A Winter’s Tale” and of course “Twelfth Night”.
Professor von Schroeder’s hypothesis was formed from a study of “Mysterium und Mimus” (Chapter 17, A Popular Procession at the Festival of Soma) in which ‘everyone runs after money’ (Rig Veda, 9. 112) that features a phallus, frog and a horse that are animal spirits of Spring and Midsummer. There the vegetation spirit appears as an old man while his female counterpart appears as an old woman turning a hand-mill (Corn-Mother, ie: Demeter and corn-dollies). The character of a doctor meanwhile also appears and a spokesperson who describes what is happening. The important factor or realisation to be noted is that in the Rig Veda versions it is the health and well-being of the King that ensures the prosperity, health, regeneration and vitality of the land and the people it serves. This has led to some speculation with regard to the ancient superstition that as long as the King is whole, without blemish or disfigurement then he becomes the iconic, living parallel to the well-being of the community (See “Shakespeare On Deformity”). This theme is a matter dealt with by Shakespeare’s historic play “Richard IIIrd” where the usurping Richard, who is a “hunchback” would not be considered a fit and proper King to rule in England. In Shakespeare’s “All’ Well That Ends Well” one of the leading characters, Bertram discovers when arriving at the French court that the King is seriously ill and apparently close to death. Bertram is the love object of a certain Helena (the daughter of a physician), she thinks that her lowly office is unsuited to Bertram‘s new-found status and prosperity. Bertram‘s mother, the Countess of Rousillon becomes aware of Helena‘s admiration, rejoices in the match and sends her to Paris under the pretext of advising on the well-being of the King and proposing a potion prescribed by her father. Helena agrees to cure the King but also makes a request of her own, ie: the choice of any man from his court. After the administration of a cure the King‘s health improves dramatically and Helena is given her reward, namely the choice of Bertram, although he arrogantly feels she is wholly beneath his current station. However, the King wisely concedes to the union and Bertram, still a ward of court has to agree. It is known euphemistically as the “Impossible Task” and is taken directly from other fairy tale versions in Europe (See “The Drama Triangle In Fairy Tales”). In light of this ‘fairy tale’ version it comes as no surprise that the legendary “Joan of Arc”, who was considered an avatar in her own lifetime by the people of France, for curing the illness of the Dauphin and then leading successful military campaigns against the English armies (See “Shakespeare’s She-Wolves”).
The Sword Excalibur
Various academics of the Grail Sagas have detected several symbolic analogies contained within them that guide the well-informed reader into a deeper mystery of its own. I am referring of course to the elemental properties of the Sword of Destiny, the Cauldron of Regeneration, the Chalice of Blood and the Spear of Death, all of which are not found as major elements in Christian iconography but which are nevertheless credited with strange powers. No one with a modicum of sense would fail to see a connection between these and the four traditional elements/humours of astrology or the four suits in playing cards as well as the divination system known as Tarot (See “The Four Worlds In Qaballah”). Another line of enquiry indicates a connection with the Irish legends of the Kings of the Tuatha de Danann in which ritual processions featured a youth with a spear (phallus) and a maiden with a vase or cup (vagina). We also know that the companions to Indra were golden-armoured youths known as the Maruts who danced in praise of their Lord before battle wielding their swords with magical accuracy. They were not dissimilar to the Greek Kouretes who danced and clashed their shields to protect the birth of the infant Zeus, drowning out his cries from the threats of Kronos. A similar group of warriors exists in Phrygian myth, the so-called Korybantes attached to the goddess Kybele. The Roman priesthood composed of 12 priests were also accompanied by dancers imitating or symbolising their god, Mars by carrying shields and spears while in other instances they bang drums with staves reminiscent of the suit of wands in Tarot. The ‘sword dance’, the banging of drums/sticks or metal vessels, and a phallic pole are all found within the customs of Mummer’s plays, Morris Dances and Maypole dances in the British Isles. The sword dance as such mimics the despatch of the sacrificial victim and occurs mainly in Scotland and the northern regions of England. But there is nevertheless a mysterious 5th element in the Grail, the so-called “Stone” into which the Sword is magically plunged, although the last we hear of its existence is when Bedivere (acting on the dying Arthur’s instructions) throws it into the Lake where the presiding feminine spirit of the Lake takes hold of it and returns it to the fathomless depths. Dotted along the British, Irish and Welsh landscape are numerous individual stones (or ‘phallic hermes’), usually situated on ancient ley lines atop the hillsides are ‘stones’ colloquially named “Arthur’s Stone” signifying at least a boundary marker or symbolically that he was the embodiment of the hegemony of the Land. Indeed, in Edinburgh there is an ancient monument situated on the remains of a prehistoric volcano whose name is “Arthur’s Seat”. Frank Parker, a local archivist in Derbyshire maintains they were placed there by Bronze Age Phoenician or Greek traders to mark the route from the tin and copper mines they plundered to a coastline where ships or coracles could take the ore back to the Mediterranean. Much later the clergy commissioned these ‘phallic stones’ to be carved with a cross at the top to remove any profane reference to pagan ritual or belief. But we are reassured, at least in Welsh mythology, that “Arthur” will return again to wield the sword whenever the fertility or well-being of the land is threatened or when conflicts and disorder prevails.
It seems the pentangle is a motif associated with the “Knights of the Round Table” (viz: 5 Virtues/Oaths of the Order) and towards the end of the sword dance the swords of five dancers are held aloft in the shape of an intertwined pentangle of blades with cries of “A Nut, a nut” (meaning a “knot” yet signifying the marriage knot) as an aisle or arch of swords were held aloft for the marriage couple to pass safely under. Now it seems that the name ‘Excalibur’ has its Arabic roots linguistically. In Arabic the root word Calib means heart and the Ex- and -eR would have been added when the word was borrowed, and the -er or -re suffix is the active participle (of English and French grammar).The word calibrate stems from qalb, in which case the heartbeat was used to measure time. The word calibre also originates from the Arabic root word for heart قلب qalb. qalib قالب means mould, template, form, matrix, model, measure or standard, it is the likely origin for the word calibre. If the name Excalibur is of Arabic origin then it should have a similar meaning to the word calibre (a standard or measure), a better standard of sword. The origin of the Welsh name “Arthur” remains a matter of contention and debate. The most widely accepted etymology derives it from the Roman ‘nomen gentile’ (family name) Artorius. Artorius itself is of obscure and contested etymology. The linguist Stephan Zimmer suggests Artorius possibly had a Celtic origin, being a Latinisation of a hypothetical name *Artorījos, in turn derived from an older patronym *Arto-rīg-ios, meaning “son of the bear/warrior-king”. This patronym is unattested, but the root, *arto-rīg, “bear/warrior-king”, is the source of the Old Irish personal name Artrí. Some scholars have suggested it is relevant to this debate that the legendary King Arthur‘s name only appears as Arthur or Arturus in early Latin Arthurian texts, never as Artōrius (though Classical Latin Artōrius became Arturius in some Vulgar Latin dialects). However, this may not say anything about the origin of the name Arthur, as Artōrius would regularly become Art(h)ur when borrowed into Welsh. Another commonly proposed derivation of Arthur from Welsh arth “bear” + (g)wr “man” (earlier *Arto-uiros in Brittonic) is not accepted by modern scholars for phonological and orthographic reasons. Notably, a Brythonic compound name *Arto-uiros should produce Old Welsh *Artgur (where u represents the short vowel /u/) and Middle/Modern Welsh *Arthwr, rather than Arthur (where u is a long vowel /ʉː/). In Welsh poetry the name is always spelled Arthur and is exclusively rhymed with words ending in -ur—never words ending in -wr—which confirms that the second element cannot be [g]wr = “man”. An alternative theory, which has gained only limited acceptance among professional scholars, derives the name Arthur from Arcturus, the brightest star in the constellation Boötes, near Ursa Major or the Great Bear. Classical Latin Arcturus would also have become Art(h)ur when borrowed into Welsh, and its brightness and position in the sky led people to regard it as the “guardian of the bear” (which is the meaning of the name in Ancient Greek) and the “leader” of the other stars in the constellation Boötes. But many other theories exist, for example that the name has Messapian or Etruscan origins.
The “Sword in the Stone” was the magical device ordained by the Gods which after the death of Urther Pendragon would determine, without question the future King of Britain. It was mere chance that the young squire Arthur drew it from the stone and then much later became recognised for who he really was. The Celtic Kings were crowned on flat slabs of stone, the most famous being the Lia Fail or Stone of Destiny. Urther dies two years after the birth of Arthur and it is only some years later that the Stone with the steel anvil is revealed at a Christmas gathering in London arranged by “Merlin the Magician”.
“A great stone, four square, like unto a marble stone, and in the midst thereof was like an anvil of steel a foot high, and therein stuck a fair sword naked by the point, and letters there were written in gold about the sword that said thus:
Whosoever pulleth out this sword of this stone and anvil is rightwise King Born of all England”.
Therefore the arrival of Arthur is accompanied by some miraculous or supernatural event, the removal of the sword from its passive or inert setting – the stone of base matter by a seemingly obscure individual. He may have been obscure but it was rumoured that “Arthur”, like Napoleon Bonaparte, Alexander the Great and Hannibal, was born with several premature teeth in his mouth. In some illustrations an anvil is shown housing the sword Excalibur, in others just a stone in the forest. But there is every reason to deduce that since meteoric iron, bearing magical powers, could have been wrought out of stories that the ancient Egyptians and perhaps the Persians actually used meteoric iron to fashion their swords before mining it from the ground. The ancient Egyptians believed that small meteors were laid on earth by the magical Phoenix Bird and it is recorded that they sent parties out into the desert to find and recover meteors that had a significant amount of metal ore within them. They certainly used the ore, which when smelted was fashioned to make statues and busts of their gods/goddesses and great rulers.
Semantically, the sword is a symbol of Arthur‘s rise to power and influence, an image of culmination and ascension, maturity and adulthood or simply human integrity. It becomes a symbol of acquiring responsibility and rising to the call of destiny. The removal of a sword from a stone however echoes an archaic Iron Age technique of actually casting weapons in stone (see diagram on left) and this predates the appearance of the most likely candidates for “Arthur” by several thousand years. The mould is made of two sections, the iron ore heated to around 150 degrees centigrade by bellows and the molten metal is then poured through a hole at the top of the assembled casting. The finished sword is then cleaned and filed down to remove any burs. Researchers thought that the most likely candidate for an historical “Arthur” would have been a Romano-Gallic cavalry officer who fought against the Saxons, Jutes and Vikings just after the Romans had left Britain. The origin of the Gothic Arians is related to the Christianizing activity of Wulfila and the mass conversion of the Tervingi Goths in A.D. 376. We also know that the treaty of 382 (foedus) was made with another group of Herulian Goths. Unfortunately, the sources do not suggest that these Goths were led by any unequivocal leader between the years 382‒392 A.D. Several candidates have been suggested; Alathar was a Gothic general who became the ‘Magister Militum’ of Thrace who fought on the side of Emperor Anastasius in the civil war against Vitalian or Recitach Strabo (d.481), the son of the pro-Byzantine chieftain of the Thracian Goths called Theodoric Strabo. That this figure shares a name with Eleuther may indicate they were the same man, but what it does identify there was no Gothic name within the British sub-Roman nobility only Theodosius I. (379‒395) and Gratian (375‒383).
This may give us further clues in identifying that the true origins of the Arthurian myth may extend well into the early Iron Age era and was perhaps a typical scenario in Asia Minor as well as Europe. The discovery of iron smelting combined with the use of the horse in battle would have been a turning point in allowing ethnic groups an opportunity to repel invasions from other warrior tribes. In the legend Arthur has an opportunity to choose between keeping the sword or keeping the scabbard. He chooses the sword, a symbol of temporal power, not realising that the scabbard is a more potent and enduring symbol. In other words if he had kept the mould he could have cast as many swords as he’d wished. In Christian texts we note that God made man in his own image, in this analogous sense the sword is an image of a self-made demigod or what Frederic Nietzsche would have termed – the superman. In contemporary terms what psychologists now call the ‘alter-ego’.
Symbolically this connotes that in the final analysis man’s powers on Earth are temporal and that only the creator of this power has the responsibility to renew them afresh in the light of wisdom and a greater intelligence, far removed from the whims and desires of mortal men. Consequently, when all the heroic deeds are done the Magic Sword is finally broken by Arthur when it is misused in his conflict with Pellinore. This equates well with the custom of disposing of a hero’s goods in ancient wells and lakes in Wales and Ireland. Caledfwlch the old sword is restored by the Lady of the Lake to Excalibur the continued use of which he has to pay a special forfeit. This forfeit is not honoured because Sir Ballin the knight with two swords slays the enchantress Nimue because of her involvement in the murder of his own mother.
Related Articles include: “King Arthur & the Holy Grail”, “Merlin the Magician”, “The Knights of the Round Table”,
